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Pugs13
Joined: 03 Jan 2013 Posts: 34 Location: MN
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Link Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 3:52 pm Post subject: Efficiency - Mash and Sparge |
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Hey guys I am having issues with my efficiency and was curious to get your thoughts on my process. I hav eno lowered my efficiency in my recipes to 75% because I cannot seem to master the fly sparging technique with the electric brewery we have which is pretty much based off of Kal's except we have 15g HLT, 15g MT and 20g BK.
No matter what I do I cannot seem to get my pre-boil volume with staying above 1.010 when sparging!?! It's driving me crazy! We do 90min. mashing and as much as 60min. sparging with sparge water below 6pH. Like I said, we started out with 85% efficiency and now down to 75% and still cannot pull off the sparge process.
The only thing I can think of at this point is my mash temps. I have seen that most of the recipes and examples on here call for anywhere from 149F-150F, however I make some beers pretty low in ABV like 3.9%-5.5% and it seems if I mash in low like 149F by the time fermentation is done and the beer is ready to drink it seems real watery or less flavorful, so I have been mashing in at 154F-156F. I am pretty sure this is my problem with not getting the most out of my grain but is there a way to get flavorful session beers when mashing in at 148F-149F without them coming out real watery and dry? Thanks for the help!
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perogi
Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 850 Location: NH
Drinking: Perogi Pale, NEIPA, Nutter's Crossing Nut Brown Ale, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter Clone
Working on: Max's Maibock
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Link Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 10:06 pm Post subject: |
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How fast are you sparging? How long does it take?
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Pugs13
Joined: 03 Jan 2013 Posts: 34 Location: MN
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Link Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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perogi wrote: | How fast are you sparging? How long does it take? |
Roughly 50-60min. I also do the 168F mash out before hand. I was thinking maybe I do not need to do a mash out. Not sure.
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kal Forum Administrator
Joined: 12 Dec 2010 Posts: 11121 Location: Ottawa, Canada
Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter
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kal Forum Administrator
Joined: 12 Dec 2010 Posts: 11121 Location: Ottawa, Canada
Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter
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Link Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 12:30 am Post subject: |
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BTW,
How are you measuring the specific gravity? Are you accounting for the temperature? SG varies with temp.
In my instructions I say:
"The pH should remain below 6 and gravity above 1.008 (relative to 68F) to avoid excess tannin extraction."
At the temp you're sparging at it probably reads closer to 1.000 or even lower. You need to "translate" this to 68F. There are various brewing calculators available for this. There's one built into my brewing software (Beer Tools Pro).
Kal
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Pugs13
Joined: 03 Jan 2013 Posts: 34 Location: MN
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Link Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 12:50 am Post subject: |
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kal wrote: | BTW,
How are you measuring the specific gravity? Are you accounting for the temperature? SG varies with temp.
In my instructions I say:
"The pH should remain below 6 and gravity above 1.008 (relative to 68F) to avoid excess tannin extraction."
At the temp you're sparging at it probably reads closer to 1.000 or even lower. You need to "translate" this to 68F. There are various brewing calculators available for this. There's one built into my brewing software (Beer Tools Pro).
Kal |
I use a refractometer to take my readings throughout the process. I need 1-2 drops and they cool fast enough to.get accurate readings.
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kal Forum Administrator
Joined: 12 Dec 2010 Posts: 11121 Location: Ottawa, Canada
Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter
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mcl
Joined: 11 Oct 2011 Posts: 155
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Link Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 1:57 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: | No matter what I do I cannot seem to get my pre-boil volume with staying above 1.010 when sparging!?! It's driving me crazy! |
This doesn't help your issue but I wanted to let you know on small beers this can be quite common. I just top off with RO water to get my BK volume.
Can you post a recipe and your numbers so we can troubleshoot further.
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Pugs13
Joined: 03 Jan 2013 Posts: 34 Location: MN
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Link Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 2:51 pm Post subject: |
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mcl wrote: | Quote: | No matter what I do I cannot seem to get my pre-boil volume with staying above 1.010 when sparging!?! It's driving me crazy! |
This doesn't help your issue but I wanted to let you know on small beers this can be quite common. I just top off with RO water to get my BK volume.
Can you post a recipe and your numbers so we can troubleshoot further. |
I have done that as well with our Irish Red which is 5.5%. It turned out quite nice, I just wish I could get more out of my grains. The grain bill for our Bitter is:
75% Eff.
6g. batch
3.9%ABV
OG - 1.044
FG - 1.015
SRM - 11.6
IBU - 33.1
7.5lbs. - Maris Otter
14oz. - Torrified Wheat
12oz. - Crystal 60L
5oz - English Extra Dark 160L
.74oz. - EKG - 60min.
.48oz. - Challenger 60min.
.43oz. - EKG - 30min.
.24oz. - EKG - Flameout
English Ale Yeast
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Pugs13
Joined: 03 Jan 2013 Posts: 34 Location: MN
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Link Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 3:08 pm Post subject: |
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I am going to look further into our grain crush too. Maybe we are not crushing our grain fine enough.
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mcl
Joined: 11 Oct 2011 Posts: 155
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Link Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 3:12 pm Post subject: |
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Double post
Last edited by mcl on Mon Mar 25, 2013 3:17 pm; edited 1 time in total
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mcl
Joined: 11 Oct 2011 Posts: 155
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Link Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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Entering those numbers in BS with my equipment profile. I am getting a mash eff of 79.5% which isn't bad but you can get better.
What size is your crush?
What was your preboil volume and gravity?
I think you should start with mash/lauter efficiency and work your way down to BH efficiency. That way we can analyze where the problem is.
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